Legacy
by Geekasauruz
Summary: The future is gone, but the past might still be salvaged.


**_Chapter One: Apokolips I_**

The ruins of Metropolis were as silent as a graveyard when two unstoppable forces stood opposed. At one side was Kalibak, Steppenwolf, the Furies and an entire legion of Parademons. Clutched in Kalibak's hand by her head was the limp corpse of Kara Zor-El.

"Cry for her, kryptonian. Cry like the pathetic coward you are." Kalibak taunted.

On the other side, Superman standing alone, fell to his knees. The sound of his teammates fighting other Parademon hordes across the city were nothing but whispers in the wind to human ears. Tears flowed from his eyes as he desperately but fruitlessly scanned the body for any signs of life.

Steppenwolf growled at Kalibak "You may be the son of Darkseid, but you have sealed your fate."

"Nonsense. Our armies are invincible now. This emotional fool will have everything he holds dear stripped away."

"The Equation, however efficient, is no substitute for caution." Granny Goodness snapped.

Momentarily, Wonder Woman landed beside Superman, followed by Hal Jordan and Vell, the only surviving Green Lanterns. Diana's face twisted into a vicious snarl. "You will die here. All of you."

Hal was preoccupied by the wealth of bodies surrounding the scene, as well as that of Superman's only surviving relative from Krypton. "What in god's name have you done?"

"We are the only Gods here, Lantern. New Genesis has been swept from the cosmos. So has Oa. Now, only Earth is left as a breeding ground for rebellious freaks of nature." Kalibak declared proudly.

Steppenwolf scowled at Darkseid's child, repulsed by his ego.

Like a crack of thunder, the ground shook as Superman's eyes ignited blood red, sparks flying from them like furious embers. His tears boiled in the air, instantly turning to steam. Without warning he barrelled through Kalibak, Steppenwolf and the Parademons, kicking up a cloud of the alien soldiers dozens of stories into the air. Clouds of their innards rained downward from the Man of Steel's rage-induced attack.

Next to move was Wonder Woman, who bounded across the battlefield like a bloodthirsty animal. The Furies, consisting of Mad Harriet, Lashina, Stompa and Gilotina charged in to meet her at the command of Granny Goodness. As Goodness cackled, Diana unsheathed her sword and roared as she wove through the air with amazing skill. The whip, swords, fists and talons that flew at her slashed at nothing but thin air.

Vell glanced at Hal and said softly "Together, ke'lavah."

Hal managed to crack a tense smile, forgetting about the destruction around him for several seconds as he looked onto Vell's eyes. "Sure thing, rookie."

They thrusted their ring hands out and concentrated, pouring all of their combined willpower into a colossal construct as wide as a jumbo jet and twice as long. The Lanterns created seperate components of the same device; part of their practiced co-ordinated repertoire. As pieces slid together and clamped themselves into place, a building was smashed into splinters by the warring New Gods of Apokolips and The Man of Steel.

The Parademons took to the air, screeching for blood and setting their eyes on the pair of Lanterns. The energy construct roared to life, and fired a beam of energy never before witnessed by any Earthling or New God alike. The clouds of Parademons were vaporised in an instant, and Granny Goodness was reduced to ash, helpless in the wake of the raw willpower.

Relenting on their first assault, the two Green Lanterns shot off in seperate directions, in an effort to split up the growing Parademon horde.

Wonder Woman found herself gutting Parademon after Parademon as they swept over her ongoing duel with the Furies. Gilotina made a vital error in her footwork, and Diana took full advantage of it. One swift motion sent her blade through the Fury's leg dismembering it cleanly.

Before Gilotina could even process the pain and scream, Diana's sword lopped her head off with equal speed.

As the war raged on, several Parademons noted that the sky began to darken. They peered up, and noticed a gigantic craft the size of an aircraft carrier hovering in the air. Approximately twenty-five gimballed plasma turrets affixed to the ship's underside tilted and sought out targets before blossoming with deep blue energy.

Parademons exploded by the dozen into paste.

"Give Diana some cover...I'll join up with Reaper and Batman."

A speck was fired out of the ship's hangar. It was Cyborg, dwarfed by the immense size of Hyperion's Model Bessie carrier craft.

"Copy. Oscar Mike." Hyperion replied.

The battle grew quieter as Cyborg trailed away, carried by his jump jets. However, as one fight dimmed, another became brighter. He came upon the location of his teammates in seconds; a Wayne Enterprises skyscraper that was currently in lockdown mode.

As if someone was expecting his arrival, one of the many claw-marked bulkheads split open, giving Victor a wide berth. He hovered inside, maintaining scans to ensure that no Parademon was sneaking up on him.

The hatch sealed, and there to welcome him was none other than Reaper. Her outfit was dirt-stained, ripped and just generally filthy. Silvia smirked weakly as Cyborg landed with a thud.

"You look like shit." Victor quipped.

"Thanks." She snapped with a drone. "How's Clark?" The question was asked eagerly, but was also carrying a load of fear.

Suddenly a splitting pain filtered through Victor's processors...then dispersed as quickly as it appeared. Cyborg did nothing but ignore it.

"Kara's dead."

"No... dammit, no." Silvia's voice shook with horror and she clenched a fist. "But maybe he can...win this for us now."

"Yeah, it ain't pretty when he's angry."

"We have thousands of people in this building, Vic. Bats doesn't think it'll hold. Can you teleport them to safety?" Silvia briefed Cyborg as she led him from the hangar.

"No go. There's too much interference. With all those Parademons using boom tubes out there, we might accidentally send them to Apokolips."

"Fucking hell. Okay. We could--"

There was a sudden bang, and alarms howled in response. Victor was already tied into the tower's defences, and instantly knew what was going on. The sub-entrance bulkhead was being bombarded by intense impacts...almost as if something was trying to break in.

Victor grimaced. "Underground hatch is being smashed. It won't hold."

"Fuck. How the hell did they know about that?" Silvia keyed her earpiece. "Dick, get your crew to the basement. They're trying to bust through."

The pair shot down to the sealed hatch, to see Nightwing at the head of a small team. Reaper nodded at him as she walked by, leaving Cyborg to get reacquainted with his old friend. As soon as Dick saw the bio-mechanical marvel, he smiled and approached him. "I'm glad you're still kicking, pal."

Victor clasped Dick's hand and replied "Likewise. Good to see you again."

Victor spied Arrowette, Guardian and Red Hood manning defensive positions by the bulkhead. He squinted when he saw the gun-totting Red Hood conversing with Reaper, the two of whom were holding high-powered assault rifles.

Releasing his grip on Dick's hand, he muttered "What's he doing here?"

"We need all the help we can get. And besides, this is the one time guns are acceptable." Nightwing reluctantly explained.

Without warning, that sudden shrieking pain flushed through Victor's systems again.

"Look, they somehow figured out that this hatch is the only place that isn't covered by auto-defences, so I'd appreciate it if you slackers started pulling your weight." Red Hood lectured the other team members as he motioned towards a rack of rifles.

Victor's brain throbbed in agony, but Nightwing had spun around to face Red Hood.

"No way. I'm good. Why the hell are you even here?" Arrowette pressed. Guardian crossed his arms and voiced his agreement. "You're an outlaw. A criminal."

"Arrows and little shields aren't going to do shit." Reaper teased. "Parademons don't stop until they die. I know from experience."

Suddenly, Victor knew how the Parademons assessed Wayne Tower's defences. Somehow... he was a double agent. He could feel the systems intrusion turning every subsystem against him. Victor's cybernetic parts were created from the components of a Mother Box technology that was created by those that the League currently fought against. He thought he was stupid not to have realised it earlier. His friends and innocent people were now in danger.

"Everyone get back! Get away from me!" Victor screamed.

Dick turned to face him, but wasn't afraid. "Vic...?"

"I'm being hacked! I don't know how much longer I have, but I'm compromised! That's how they knew to come down h--" Victor's throat suddenly went dry and his eye rolled back in its socket.

Dick's first instinct was to run to Victor's aid, but was instantly grabbed by Red Hood. "Jason!! Stop!! I need to help him!!"

The vigilante said nothing, only tightened his hold on Nightwing.

Victor's pained screaming flooded the room, and this only made Dick's desperate attempts of escape even more fierce. His elbow flew up, slammed into Red Hood's helmet and with this, forced free of his hold. Before he could get far, Reaper leapt in and easily overpowered the acrobat with her low level superhuman strength. "Dick, stop! We can't help him!" She growled.

Cyborg's mechanical parts clicked and whirled, before violently dispensing what was left of Victor Stone onto the floor with a blood-curdling squelch. He was nothing but a mess of blood, organs and a head horrifically scarred on one side, writhing and twitching on the floor. Victor died instantly, since his cybernetics provided essential life support to his remaining organic parts.

"No!!!!!" Nightwing screamed, collapsing to his knees.

Robin and Arrowette were frozen in place, petrified.

"Fuck." Red Hood snarled.

For several seconds, Victor's mechanical body simply stood in place...until components began moving once again. All of the gaps that accommodated Victor's body filled up by the shifting metal, and a skull-like visage promptly found itself in place of the man's face.

Its left eye suddenly clicked to life, flooding the area with verdant light. Its right eye, where Victor's surviving face was once held, was as black as night.

The machine raised a hand to the currently incapacitated Nightwing. His limb snapped apart and formed some kind of weapon.

Red Hood instantly answered with a flurry of gunfire, joined soon by Reaper. "Dick, get the hell up!" Silvia barked.

Guardian threw himself at Nightwing, pushing the vigilante aside only seconds before the machine's weapon discharged. A green spray of particles washed over Guardian and Nightwing. Reaper, Red Hood and Arrowette slid behind the cover of several large crates in the room. From what they saw, the pair were disintegrated at the molecular level. Nothing remained.

Arrowette drew a high explosive arrow and sent it flying at their newfound enemy, shrouding him in a dense cloud and giving Reaper and Red Hood an opportunity to reload.

"This isn't working!" Jason growled sarcastically.

Reaper slapped a fresh mag into her weapon and snapped "No shit. We need to fall back."

"One problem...he's covering our exit!" Arrowette said, locking two more arrows onto her bow.

The last remaining defenders of Wayne Tower fixed their weapons onto the smoke cloud, eyes trained for any small movements. It faded several seconds later, revealing the machine undamaged and unhindered.

It suddenly raised its hand once again, and instead of blowing a hole through the bulkhead, it hacked through the Tower's systems and opened it manually.

Reaper's eyes widened. There were thousands of innocent people in the higher levels of this building. The Parademons will kill them all. Bruce and a few others are up there, but they won't make a difference. Nothing short of Wonder Woman could drive off these numbers.

The blast door slid open, and a single figure leapt into the loading bay. In a less dire circumstance, Silvia may have found the time to laugh at this guy's strange yellow hat and Shakespeare-esque facial hair.

"Thank you, Grid. Desaad's trinkets never fail to disappoint." The man said to Cyborg's husk as he tapped a button on some kind of remote he held in his hand. "Kill everyone in this building."

"Acknowledged, Kanto. It shall be done." Grid's low, digitised voice answered.

A dozen Parademons entered the loading bay and left alongside Grid, who sprinted down the hallway and out of sight.

"Now, Earthlings...it is time for you to die." Kanto sneered, peering over his shoulder at the three humans hidden behind cover.

He bounded forward with unnatural strength, sword in hand, right for Red Hood. Jason unloaded an entire clip of ammunition, but it did nothing against the New God.

Kanto landed on Red Hood and buried his blade into the man's neck.

Reaper, who took cover alongside Jason, fell onto her back from the force of Kanto's leap.

The assassin's eyes next spun to Arrowette, who attempted to get some space in between Kanto and herself but it proved to be a fatal mistake. "Yes, dear. Run from me. What was an execution becomes a hunt."

Kanto rolled off of Red Hood's corpse, swung his sword hand out and flicked it towards Arrowette, who was trying to fire another explosive arrow. The New God's blade spun through the air and stuck surely in Arrowette's chest.

The girl tumbled onto the cold ground, and Reaper only then managed to get to her feet. Silvia wasn't sure if she was too slow, or if Kanto was too fast...but judging by what Clark had told her about the New Gods, she was starting to settle on the latter.

Without warning, a massive beast came crashing through the ceiling and landed with a stomp on top of Kanto. It was covered in a coat of black paint, metal from head to toe and larger than anything Silvia had seen in the last few days.

Then, she noticed the glowing red bat on its chest and a jagged visor on its face.

"Get out of here." Batman called, his voice amplified by the suit.

"Don't be stupid. Those people--"

"They're dead."

Batman's battle suit began to shake. Kanto was wrestling free of his position beneath the suit's gigantic boot. Silvia tried to find something she could do. Anything. But couldn't.

Bruce growled "I stand more of a chance here than you do."

She didn't move. She couldn't bring herself to run at a time like this...but Bruce didn't seem to care. He motioned a giant mechanical fist to grab her and pick her up.

"Whoa! Wait! What the hell--"

Batman pegged Reaper out of the open bulkhead and into the underground sewer tunnels. Silvia slammed into a wall with a crack, to see an explosion flush out of the hatch. She gritted her teeth. Everything her group did for the last few days was for nothing. She couldn't linger, she had to move if she wanted to help those left.

As Reaper set out for the surface, the largest battle Earth had ever seen was still raging upon it.

Wonder Woman stared down Lashina and Stompa, the last remaining Furies. In her iron grip was the body of Mad Harriet, with a massive gash sliced down the length of her body; she was gutted like a fish.

Lashina's face began to crack in fear of the Amazon Champion.

Diana tossed the corpse aside and swept her blood-soaked blade in front of her. The motion sent flecks off blood onto Stompa and Lashina. Stompa beared her teeth and propelled herself into the air with her incredible strength whilst Lashina was paralysed in fear.

Diana, tired and livid at the constant fighting, peered into the sky and tracked Stompa's trajectory. Stompa began to fall, her feet aimed precisely at Diana's position. She reeled back with a clenched fist, waiting for the right moment.

Half a second from impact, Wonder Woman sent a deadly haymaker upwards. A pure and wild strike, unfiltered by any technique; only all of the strength the Princess could muster into a single blow. A shockwave splintered every bit of concrete in a ten metre radius, and Lashina was propelled backwards, blood pouring from her ears.

As Stompa's body was sent upwards once more, Diana grimaced and rolled her shoulder back and forth. Her arm was broken, but that damage couldn't even compare to what she had inflicted to Stompa.

A lifeless, managed corpse dropped from the sky and bounced once with a shrill snap, then landed in a twisted mess. The blow had shattered every bone in Stompa's body more times than anyone thought possible.

Diana then turned to Lashina, who was on the ground and glancing around the battlefield like a confused child. Her ears still leaked with blood. Wonder Woman approached the last Fury, sheathing her blade. The deaf Lashina didn't move, she hardly seemed to notice Diana at all. The Amazon reached down with one hand, clasped Lashina's neck and raised her into the air.

Without any second thoughts, she squeezed. With a pop, Lashina's neck snapped clean, ending her life.

Not too far from the site of Diana's triumph over the Apokoliptian Furies, Hyperion had her hands full. Her massive hovering gunship platform moved steadily through the Metropolis skyline, Harper's mind acting as a targeting system. She had to zero in on each target, and according to her calculations she was downing at least fifteen Parademons per second. It was incredibly taxing.

A sudden garbled voice flooded the JL comms frequency "Reaper to...anyone..anybody..."

"Hyperion here. Can't talk long." Harper muttered, eyes closed as she sat in the cockpit of her chassis.

Reaper sounded exhausted and...infuriated. "Wayne Tower. We lost it. Everyone's fucking dead...! They killed them all!"

The channel was tense. Silence swallowed it for several seconds. "Give me a list, Kent." Harper demanded calmly.

"Nightwing, Arrowette, Guardian, Batman, Red Hood..." Silvia hesitated for a moment. How could she possibly tell someone that the person they had chosen to spend their life with was now gone? That nothing would ever be the same for her and the little girl they had adopted? She gulped but finally managed to utter the last name. "and Cyborg."

Harper had lost people in the field before. She had to simply get on with her job and leave the mourning for later. She couldn't afford to be distracted, but this time it was almost impossible for her to simply get over it. Victor. Victor was gone...and she wasn't there.

"What happened?"

"They hacked Victor's suit somehow. Turned it against him."

"...He's still out there?"

"No. What's left of Victor is in Wayne Tower. He's dead, Harper. The cybernetic parts are still running around. Do me a favour and don't go looking for it. The others need you up there." Silvia said bluntly.

Harper wasn't going to jeopardise Earth's safety to get revenge...she had lost friends in battle before. Being a soldier meant having to focus and set emotions aside. Well, being a good soldier meant that. This didn't mean that this didn't hurt, nor that she wasn't heartbroken. She'd mourn afterwards though. Harper took a deep, rickety breath. It was difficult, even for her, to turn down her feelings. That was Victor. She cared about him more than her own life, but her emotions couldn't take precedent.

"You don't need to tell me that, Kent. I know what my priorities are." Harper barked.

A burst of green energy consumed an empty plaza, and Harper's sensors picked up one human and one Bekorrian life sign, both struggling. Scanning further, thermal imaging picked up the unique horned-silhouette of Steppenwolf.

Harper growled. "The Lanterns need help...I'm initiating the Stomper protocol."

Harper grimaced as she willed her hovercraft to stop mid-air. Its components began to shift and clank, as Harper's mind unfolded the steel puzzle. The mess of metal slowly dropped in altitude and began to take the shape of a humanoid figure.

Two gigantic legs formed, then two thick arms, and lastly a head that matched the helmets of Harper's Hyperion suits. The colossal machine landed with an intense rumble that forced certain buildings in the area to collapse into piles of rubble.

"Harper...?" Hal's voice groggily called through the comms frequency. "What...what the hell are you doing...?"

She knew that the seven-storey tall robotic suit she currently piloted gave her a bit of a chance against Steppenwolf, but Harper wasn't stupid. The only thing she could do was buy the Lanterns time to regroup, then hopefully save her before anything happened.

Hyperion said nothing, only lumbered forth, destroying anything in between her and the Green Lanterns. Before long, she had a visual on Steppenwolf. The Apokoliptian general didn't look to be in great shape either, probably since he was duking it out with two GLs. Steppenwolf's soot-stained face cracked in a sadistic grin.

Vell slung a ball of energy at their foe, knocking him back slightly. "Hit him now, Hyperion!"

Harper focused her mind on enabling all of the onboard weaponry on Model Clanker, which included all of the plasma cannons that were used in its flight mode plus additional ballistic launchers. Multiple dots of blue emerged on Hyperion's body, each the glow of a charging energy turret. Its shoulders opened up and revealed racks of high-explosive missiles.

"Get ready to sync attacks!" Hal ordered. He conjured an array of mechanical weapons, all resembling the jagged and angular design language of human technology. Vell's line of construct weapons however were all sleek and curved, based on the multitude of weapons she had encountered as a space pirate.

"Now!" Hal shouted.

Over twenty beams of cobalt plasma made their mark, and dozens of missiles traced through the sky like fireworks. All the while, green bullets and lasers filled the space between the three Leaguers and the single Apokoliptian general.

Smoke engulfed the immediate area as the fire died down. Harper's scanners weren't picking much up, and neither were the Lantern rings. "Stay frosty." Hal muttered.

Without warning, Steppenwolf came leaping out of the cloud of smoke like a fierce animal. His helmet had been knocked from his head, and pieces of his armour had been incinerated. The flesh underneath was burned and scarred. He roared furiously as he soared through the air with his axe in hand.

Harper's reaction time was spot on, but Steppenwolf was too fast for her armour to keep up with. The general slipped through Hyperion's fingers as it attempted to swat him like a fly to no avail, and landed surely on the face of the mechanical monster.

"No!" Vell snarled. She sent herself at Steppenwolf just as Hal did the same. With speed almost on par with Superman, Steppenwolf snatched Vell by the neck and swung out the opposite direction with his axe.

It pierced Hal's energy shielding, digging into his chest with a soft squelch. Vell's eyes instantly began to burn with incredible rage. Without anything but the augmented strength given by her ring, she reached out to Steppenwolf's face and mauled it like a rabid animal. Blood was flung everywhere as Hal tumbled from Hyperion's chassis, and Steppenwolf growled in pain.

Eventually Steppenwolf tossed Vell across the city with a single motion. As the Lantern disappeared into the distance, Steppenwolf rammed his axe into Hyperion's head. Harper's eyes snapped open, and she spotted a breach in the dark cockpit that let the red sunlight inside.

A second later, Steppenwolf had forced the small breach open with his bare hands and pushed himself inside. With swiftness that outpaced the human eye, Steppenwolf flashed across the cockpit with his axe, splitting Harper in two at the waist.

Without its pilot, the Hyperion suit fell silent...and slowly leant forward. Steppenwolf bounded free before he was caught in its tumble. Like many of the buildings of Metropolis before it, it slanted until it slammed into the ground, but unlike the structures, it produced another extreme tremor that caused even more damage to the city of tomorrow.

The seismic activity was felt even in the bed of a debris-strewn crater on the other side of the city, where the Last Son of Krypton wrestled with the son of Darkseid. Thunderous cracks sounded every five seconds. The sound of Superman's fist impacting on the side of Kalibak's face. Blood trickled from the New God's mouth, and his eyes flickered in and out of consciousness.

His face warped in rage as he clasped his hands tightly around his foe's throat, pressing him against the cracked ground with immense force. Kalibak gargled and struggled to no avail. The death and destruction Kalibak brought to Earth had shattered any remaining ounce of restraint Clark had. The final straw was the murder of his cousin Kara, and of his clone Kon-El.

He knew that it was the only thing he could do to end this...but that didn't mean he wanted to do it. Darkseid's son needed to die.

———————————-

_**Author's Note**: This story is part of my DC series, which consists of eight stories (Invincible, Escape Velocity, Throne of Atlantis, Inhuman, Mortal, Peacekeeper, Elysium, and Legacy). It's not necessary to read them all if you're not interested, however this story is the finale. It will include the OC's from every other story and may become confusing for anyone that hasn't read them. _


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